I have a confession to make.

I love The Walking Dead comic book… But The Walking Dead TV Series (especially the lethargic, often non-sensical Season 2)? Um, not so much.

The Spawn comic? We’ll, it’s had very few highs (with LOTS of lows) and virtually anything written by ToddMcFarlane smells worse than horseshit and reads even more treacherously and tediously.

Just my opinion, of course, but I like McFarlane the artist way more than I like McFarlane the writer. Somewhere along the way, somebody got Todd to come down to Earth for a few hours (Hell, for all I know Todd came back down all by himself) and draw some Image “Homage” covers celebrating the publisher’s 20th Anniversary. Released this week are Spawn-ized versions of Savage Dragon #1 and Youngblood #1. Couldn’t care less about either.

But I really, really want the “Spawn of the Dead” cover from Spawn #222.

Don’t ask me why– because I don’t know.

Maybe it’s the HILARIOUS street sign that found its way into the bottom left corner of the Spawn Homage Cover… Maybe not. I seriously don’t know.

6 Responses to COMPARING COVERS!™ Walking Dead #1 and Spawn #222

It’s cuz Todd the artist IS better than Todd the writer! I know it won’t happen anytime soon, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Todd stretch his art muscles more and try to work in different genres. It might be interesting to see him try just a straight horror comic or some over the top satire strip.

Among the first Image series, Spawn is the only one that really made it. All the others – Youngblood, WildC.A.T.S., Cyberforce and so on – closed or have been published by fits and starts. In fact, WildC.A.T.S. is gone for good, Youngblood counts about 70 issues, Cyberforce has been relaunched innumerous times… and Spawn never ceased to be published, counts more than 200 issues, had his own movie and is one of the most successful comic books ever. A deeply deserved success.
Also, Todd McFarlane created an economic empire, based not only on Spawn, but also on his incredibly well done action figures. All the other founders made the worst choice of their life leaving major publishers (in fact, some of them retraced their steps); McFarlane, on the contrary, couldn’t have made a better choice.
McFarlane had more success than the other Image founders not only because he created a better series, but also because he is very much smarter. Spawn wouldn’t have been so successful, if the idea had come to Rob Liefeld, or even to Jim Lee.
A thing that saddens me about him is the fact that he’s been drawing less frequently, since Capullo started drawing Spawn. A man having all that artistic talent has the moral duty to exploit it as much as he can. But I understand that he doesn’t have the time to draw on a regular basis: as I wrote, he runs an economic empire.
Another thing that disappoints me about McFarlane is an interview he made years ago. More or less, the cut and thrust was:
Todd McFarlane: “When I started writing Spawn, I had already in mind every single aspect of his life, from the beginning to the end.”
Journalist: “So, when will you make it end?”
Todd McFarlane: “Spawn will live as long as he’s merchandisable.”
I didn’t like this reply, because essentially he said “I’m making Spawn for the money, not because I love him, or because of my artistic passion.”
Anyway, I admire him for his artistic talent, for his intelligence and for realizing his dream of making millions of dollars out of his love for comic books.

Savage Dragon #183 just came out a few days ago. Spawn isn’t the only original Image title still going. Erik Larsen has written AND drawn every issue. McFarlane has not. How many issues of Spawn did he draw? Maybe 20? I respect Larsen a lot more as a creator because of that.